In this interesting newsreel from 1956 or 1957, Britain's Minister of Defence Selwyn Lloyd is interviewed by American reporter Robert McKenzie about the reasons that the United Kingdom decided to develop its own nuclear deterrent -- specifically both atomic and hydrogen bombs. The discussion also touches on Britain's military activities in Kenya and other areas of its dominion.
The United Kingdom was the third country to test an independently developed nuclear weapon, in October 1952. It is one of the five nuclear-weapon states under the NPT and a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Since the 1958 US-UK Mutual Defence Agreement, the United States and the United Kingdom have cooperated extensively on nuclear security matters. The special relationship between the two countries has involved the exchange of classified scientific data and materials such as plutonium.
The UK is thought to retain a stockpile of around 225 thermonuclear warheads, of which 160 are operational, but has refused to declare the exact size of its arsenal. Since 1998, the Trident programme has been the only operational nuclear weapons system in British service. The delivery system consists of four Vanguard class submarines based at HMNB Clyde in Scotland. Each submarine is armed with up to 16 Trident II missiles, each carrying warheads in up to eight MIRV re-entry vehicles. With at least one submarine always on patrol, the Vanguards perform a strategic deterrence role and are also believed to have a sub-strategic capability. In contrast with the other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, the United Kingdom operates only a submarine-based delivery system, having decommissioned its tactical WE.177 free-fall bombs in 1998.
The Transatlantic Teleview program was the brainchild of Charles Dand, Director of the Films Division of British Information Services in New York in 1954. In a memo to the Foreign Office he outlined the need and format of magazine film series for television that would introduce British political figures to an American audience through a series of studio interviews. By December 1954 the first issue of Transatlantic Teleview, an interview with the Secretary of State for the Colonies Mr Lennox Boyd, was on its way to New York. Most of these interviews were conducted by Robert McKenzie, then Foreign Editor of Picture Post, who explored a wide variety of topics. An issue was produced roughly each month, usually by World Wide Pictures and usually lasted around fourteen minutes.
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